THE subject of this narrative is a young man of twenty-eight years of age, Who resided in the village of W. I had known him for a long time; in fact, I had worked with him. Often had he been spoken to about his soul, but, like many more, he seemed to turn a deaf ear to all entreaties, and to be insensible to the strivings of the Holy Spirit. But God had His own way of bringing John B. to Himself, and of making him know the blessed reality of having his sins forgiven, and of being justified from all things.
I had left the place where we used to work together, but sometimes I saw John's mother, who conveyed the sad news that John was sinking in consumption.
Who can tell the love of a fond mother, who knows Christ, and knows her own sins to be forgiven, and who is living in the hope of being forever with the Lord—ah! who can tell the heart yearnings of such a heart, while sitting and watching over her son, who is not saved, and is not ready for eternity. Such was the sorrow of John's faithful parent.
One night she went down to her son's house, and, whilst speaking to him about his soul, a power such as she could not describe came upon her. She knelt down to supplicate before the throne of grace. She felt she could not leave her son unsaved. She spoke of hell with its terrors, and the awful consequence of rejecting the infinite grace of God for even another night, and then she told him of heaven and its glories. After appealing to him for some time, he knelt down, and she poured out her whole soul before God for her John's salvation. The convicting power of the Spirit of God told upon him, and God in His infinite grace spoke to his sin-stricken soul.
A few days after this, in company with a fellow Christian, I went to see John. Our conversation was of the Father's love and care. Tears filled his eyes, and he confessed how God had followed him for many years, and how, though he had tried to have his own way, he was at last turned to God. "Glory be to God, He has caught me at last!” he said. He presently added, "I have not long to stay down here." All fear of death seemed to have left him.
As we made mention of the precious blood of Christ, and of the value of His eternal sacrifice, John said, "Yes, that precious blood has made me, a poor, guilty sinner, 'whiter than snow.' "
The twenty-first chapter of Revelation was very precious to him, and, with tears in his eyes, he said, as we read it, " Bless the Lord, I shall soon join that redeemed company; then no more pain, no more sorrow, no more crying, for ' God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'“ Oh, how our hearts were refreshed to hear John speak thus.
A few days after, we learned that John was much worse, and could not last long. On my entering the room, he turned his eyes to me, and, in a whisper, said, "it’s all joy and peace; I am whiter than snow.'
His sister was weeping by his side; her arms were around him, and he held in his trembling hand a little Testament. He opened it at the twenty-first chapter of St. John's gospel, and whispered for me to read it. After a little while he laid his head upon me, and, with a sweet smile, said, " Yes, I am feeding on Christ, my Savior; oh, how precious." Then looking to his mother, he asked us to sing “Sweeping through the gates of the New Jerusalem." His mother, his wife, and his sister, together with ourselves, sang, the tears streaming from our eyes for joy. When we got to the chorus John's voice astonished us. He joined in until from exhaustion he could sing no longer.
As we sat by his side he turned his eyes upwards and pointed, and whispered, “Jesus is there, and I see my sister Lucy."—She had gone to be with the Lord several years previously.—" Jesus is holding a robe out for me. Oh, do let me put it on!" and then, waving his hand, he shouted, "I'm coming, Jesus, I'm coming." Then, listening for a moment, he said, “Hark! don't you hear the singing? oh, how sweet." And he broke out singing—
“Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly."
We knelt down and thanked God for His wondrous grace, and for granting such a testimony to be borne by one so young in the faith. I took my leave of him once more. What thoughts filled my breast! What joy, what a reality to have Christ in the heart the hope of glory, and to be in possession of eternal life!
I had not the privilege of seeing John again, but his mother, who stayed with him until his death, said he continued in the same happy condition until he departed. Not a cloud dimmed his horizon.
A few hours before his departure, his wife and mother were in the room with him, in which there was no light beyond that given out by a few red ashes in the grate, for the sufferer's head had ached so much that any light was a trial to him. Presently his mother whispered to his wife to look, as a strange light was about his head and face. The mother gently moved to the window to see if there was any reflection from outside, but could see nothing whatever, and strange as this may appear, they could see his face when everything else in the room was wrapped in darkness, and this light remained each night until he passed away.
Just before he departed he asked to see several of his fellow-workmen, and to read to them out of his little Testament, and he exhorted them to accept the free salvation which his Savior had granted him. In a manner that was truly astonishing, he bore testimony to the finished work of Christ, and to the efficiency of His precious blood in washing guilty sinners whiter than snow. His end was triumphant. Kissing his dear wife, his mother, and his sister, he turned his eyes to heaven, clasping his hands, saying in a whisper, " Whiter than snow; whiter than snow"; and, with his last dying breath, said, "Jesus, my Savior, I come to Thee."
And now, dear reader, what are your prospects for eternity? If you are still unsaved, the same precious blood that made John B. whiter than snow can cleanse away ALL your sins. Christ will make you to rejoice in His free and full salvation if you repent and come to Him. But if you are a rejecter of Christ-oh, who can bear to think of the terrible doom that awaits these? For the rejecters will be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great SALVATION?" (Heb. 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3).) “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be SAVED." (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)) A. B.